As a Thief in the Night

As the Savior shared some of the events which would precede His Second Coming, He warned His disciples about the need for vigilance using a stark metaphor:

If the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.

Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.

Matthew 24:43-44

Of course the Savior’s return will be a happy day, if we are prepared. But like the homeowner, we don’t want to be caught off guard. We want to be prepared, and we want to stay prepared, since He could arrive at any time.

The apostle Paul placed us inside of the Savior’s metaphor, visualizing a happy outcome for us:

Yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. …

But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.

Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.

Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.

1 Thessalonians 5:2, 4-6

We may not know when He will come, but if we intentionally walk in the light, surrounding ourselves with goodness and being alert, then we will not be ashamed at His coming. (See 1 John 2:28.)

In 1834, the Lord echoed Paul’s admonition as He called Warren Cowdery to serve as a presiding high priest in New York:

Verily I say unto you, the coming of the Lord draweth nigh, and it overtaketh the world as a thief in the night—

Therefore, gird up your loins, that you may be the children of light, and that day shall not overtake you as a thief.

Doctrine and Covenants 106:4-5

There is power in being continuously prepared. It’s not like studying for a final exam or a business presentation. You can’t cram for this. You have to achieve a state of perpetual readiness. Perhaps that’s why the Lord hasn’t revealed the timing, so that we will commit for the long haul, not just a short sprint.

Just over five years after Samuel the Lamanite prophesied of the Savior’s birth, believers were facing severe persecution. Their enemies declared gleefully that the time had passed, and they threatened to kill anyone who continued to believe in Samuel’s prophecy. But the believers were unwavering:

They did watch steadfastly for that day and that night and that day which should be as one day as if there were no night, that they might know that their faith had not been vain.

3 Nephi 1:8

When the sign came, it was the persecutors who found themselves shaken:

There were many, who had not believed the words of the prophets, who fell to the earth and became as if they were dead, for they knew that the great plan of destruction which they had laid for those who believed in the words of the prophets had been frustrated.

3 Nephi 1:16

President Russell M. Nelson has recently shown us what it looks like to walk in the light without knowing everything. In our last general conference, he said:

We do not know the day or the hour of His coming. But I do know that the Lord is prompting me to urge us to get ready for that “great and dreadful day.”

“Confidence in the Presence of God,” April 2025 general conference

Today, I will be steady in my preparation for the Savior’s return. I will remember that His coming will be unannounced, like “a thief in the night,” but that those who walk in the light will be ready.